


The Telvanni Guide to Destruction

by Zalphon



Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-14 02:05:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16484012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zalphon/pseuds/Zalphon
Summary: A guide to the School of Destruction by a Telvanni Spellwright.





	The Telvanni Guide to Destruction

**The Telvanni Guide to Destruction**

_By Sakiran Maesa, Spellwright of House Telvanni_

 

There is no field simultaneously better understood on a surface level and more deeply misunderstood on a deeper level than the school of Destruction, as discovered by a retainer today during an attempt on my life. He was sent to act on behalf of one of my rivals within the House and sought to create shards of ice to impale me, but instead delivered jets of flame at me. Admittedly, I am applying salve to my burns, but he has been swept up by one of the slaves and promptly deposited outside; his misunderstanding of the fundamentals of Destruction magic were his undoing and thus why he is the proverbial ‘dust in the wind’ as the Westerners say. As a result of being saved by his (quite literally) fatal flaw, I am writing this with hopes that the next would-be assassin does not make such a novice mistake and instead actually proves himself worthy of one day becoming Telvanni.

 

Let us begin with an understanding of what the Destruction school is and what it is not. It is a school that derives its name from the admittedly destructive effects it causes and it is the philosophical anticipation of Restoration. These two schools have a great deal of similarity at their most fundamental level in that the ability to use their effects is derived predominantly from the Will. It is for that reason that when I have had retainers interested in learning to more effectively use spells of either school, I have taught them to cultivate what I call the “Invisible Anger”.

 

The Invisible Anger is a switch that we must turn on when we are attempting to use the evocations found in the Destruction school or any kind of restorative magic. This is because you must have an almost fanatical sense of willpower to force these things to happen. What makes the school of Destruction different from other schools, even from those such as Alteration (which also rely upon a strong will), is that the effects derived from your spells are only as powerful as you can force them to be and anger is a great way of squeezing out the little bit of extra force within yourself. Although, I also frequently use threats to force my underlings to draw on the bottom of their internal reserves so that they may truly see where their ability is at, not just where it is ‘comfortably’ at.

 

The cultivation of the Invisible Anger is not something I can in good conscience encourage of all mages, because it is as destructive to the wielder as it is to those who cross him. It eats at you like a worm inside of your heart and when the heart is hollowed, even if you try to distance yourself from it—there is only an emptiness the likes of which can only be compared to the nihilistic cult-worship of Sithis by the Dark Brotherhood. It is an act of self-murder so that you may kill those who come for you, so I encourage it only be done by those with a need to do so (such as the Telvanni).

 

The techniques which I am going to share with you for the cultivation of the Invisible Anger are actually those of the Imperial Battlemage Corps. These are studied and practiced with an almost religious reverence, because they understand that this is a critical part of being an effective practitioner of Destruction magic.

 

It begins with looking at someone and understanding that they may be a threat to you and if they are, you must dispatch of them as quickly (and efficiently) as possible. You think about it more. How dare they threaten your life. How dare they try to harm you. How dare they. If they think they’ll hurt you, you’ll kill them. You’ll kill them. You’ll kill them like the animals they are. That’s all they are. Animals. And you’ll butcher them just like you would a kwama worker.

 

You need to dehumanize the enemy. They aren’t people; they’re beasts, they’re monsters, they’re anything that you can kill without thinking twice about it, because that is what makes an effective practitioner of Destruction magic. However, this is only the first step to being truly effective when using this school of magic. You must not only be indifferent—you must come to see it as a duty that must be done. This person needs to die. They need to stop being alive and it is your duty—your obligation—to be the one to perform that task.

 

This philosophy is taught to every Battlemage recruit and it is one which I have adopted as well, because it serves to make the act of using Destruction magic easier. It is not a difficult school of magic to use and it is actually quite simple in relation to some of the other schools, but there is a difference between using it to practice and using it for its intended purpose. Many practitioners of Destruction lose their taste for the school entirely once it is used for the purpose of destroying one’s enemies and those who stay are seldom unchanged by the act. It is a necessary evil in a world rife with evil and I encourage those of you who continue to read on to give it that due respect.

 

Destruction is divided into the sub-schools of Elemental and Enervation.

 

Elemental composed of spells pertaining to Fire, Frost, Lightning, and Poison. The reasoning for Poison being grouped with Elemental spells will be explained shortly.

 

Enervation pertains to the spells that drain the subject itself or otherwise impact their life-force.

 

Spells within the elemental sub-school begin with the focusing of magicka (the metaphysical vapor that we draw upon for magic). You will need to pull the magicka together and from that point, you will need to decide what you wish to do with it. Spells pertaining to frost for instance require pulling the heat out of the magicka until it actually condenses and freezes, whereas spells pertaining to fire require actually superheating it until it ignites. Spells pertaining to lightning involve jolting it. This may seem impossible to the layman, but remember that in the usage of magic, you must see both the metaphysical plane and the physical one. You are doing these things to it in the metaphysical plane so that you can pull it from this plane into the physical one for the desired effect.

 

One may ask what is poison and how does it pertain to this? Magicka, as discussed, is a metaphysical vapor. When it is used to create a poison effect, the metaphysical vapor is compressed into a toxic substance (e.g. Arsenic or Mercury) and then directed at the target. One may struggle to understand how this makes it an elemental effect, but given that these are both naturally-occurring elements within the earth, it stands to reason that the effects of Poison are actually “Earth” and thus completing the quaternity.

 

Next we come upon the sub-school of Enervation. It was discussed that elemental sub-school relies on the focusing of magicka, but enervation does not rely upon that. It is a much more aggressive sort of school and actually draws upon your internal stores of magicka to directly pull from attack the target without an intermediary such as Fire or Poison. This can be anything such as draining their health directly to reducing their resistance to certain effects or even draining from them their aptitude with certain skills.

 

Everything I said regarding the cultivation of the Invisible Anger is critical for any student of Destruction magic, but to practice enervation without it is to set off to run a marathon with no legs. You are hopelessly unable and it is impossible by definition. It is for this reason that the Enervation sub-school has been attacked quite frequently by members of the Imperial Mages’ Guild as being ‘sinister’ and ‘evil’. Both of these claims are grossly misunderstanding just what it is, but they are not entirely wrong in that it takes a certain type of person to study enervation magic and put it into use against another living being.

 

That leads us to the only effect within the enervation sub-school that isn’t entirely controversial and that is the disintegration of material objects (e.g. weapons or armor). It still requires that Invisible Anger, but it is instead directed at an inanimate object instead of a living being and is thus deemed somewhat more acceptable by those fettered by the confines of morality. I encourage you to make your own decisions regarding the use of enervation effects. Regardless of what decisions are made about their usage, I equally encourage you to study the school of Destruction not with an academic interest, but with an understanding that it is a weapon and is meant to be used as such. Study for any reason besides the intent to utilize it is a waste of both your time and whoever has given you their time to assist in your edification. Give it it’s due respect and understand that or do not bother with it.


End file.
